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• #1271

  If a child in eating an apple merely girdles it and leaves the apple good at stem and below, it indicates that he will be a poor man; the saying is, “a poor man’s core.”

• #1272

  It is unlucky to turn back after starting to go anywhere. To avert misfortune after turning back, make the sign of the cross in the dust with the heel, and spit in the cross.

  Arkansas (negro), and Kentucky.
• #1273

  It is unlucky to turn back after having once started out.

  Quebec.
• #1274

  To get out of bed on the wrong side puts one out all day. “He got out of bed with the wrong foot foremost” is said of a person who has a fit of crossness.

  Northern Ohio.
• #1275

  To drop your books on the way to school signifies that you will make mistakes in your lessons.

  Chestertown, Md.
• #1276

  Drop a book and you will miss your lesson, unless it is immediately picked up and kissed.

  Alabama.
• #1277

  Whoever eats the last piece of bread will be an old maid.

  Pennsylvania.
• #1278

  If you break something, you will break two other things.

  Maine, Massachusetts, and Northern Ohio.
• #1279

  To twirl a chair on one leg means that you are going to fight with somebody.

  Peabody, Mass.
• #1280

  Whirling an empty chair indicates that a whipping is in store for the transgressor.

• #1281

  If you twirl a chair around on one leg, it is a sign that you are about to break dishes.

  Chestertown, Md.
• #1282

  You mustn’t pay the doctor entirely, or there will be sickness in the family.

  Lonsdale, R. I.
• #1283

  You must leave by the door through which you enter, or there will be trouble with the family, or ill luck to yourself.

  Pennsylvania.
• #1284

  If you leave by any other door than the one through which you have entered, it is said that you will not come again.

  Cumberland, Me.
• #1285

  In bathing, the eyes should always be rubbed towards the nose, as that makes them large, and rubbing out the opposite way makes them small.

  Cambridge, Mass.
• #1286

  In climbing a fence,—

  Get over, meet with clover,
  Get through, meet with a shoe;
  Get under, meet with a blunder.

  Sunderland, Mass.
• #1287

  If you step on a grave, you will never grow any more.

  Chestertown, Md. (negro).
• #1288

  Step over a living thing, and that thing, whether a human being or not, will not grow any more.

  Province of Quebec, Can.
• #1289

  To step over one leg of a child will cause it to grow longer than the other.

  Baltimore, Md.
• #1290

  To comb the hair after dark is a sign of sickness.

  Comb your hair after dark,
  Comb sorrow to your heart.

  Connecticut.
• #1291

  If you comb your hair after dark, it will make you forgetful.

  Northern Ohio.
• #1292

  If the right hand itches, you are going to get money; if the left, you will shake hands with a friend. If the nose itches, a friend is coming.

  Talladega, Ala.
• #1293

  Two persons wiping hands on the same towel and twisting it occasions a quarrel.

  Pennsylvania.
• #1294

  Wash and wipe together,
  Live in peace together.

  Northern Ohio.
• #1295

  If two persons wash their hands at the same time, it is a sign that they will be friends forever.

  Alabama.
• #1296

  If two persons wipe their hands at the same time, they will be foes forever.

  Alabama.
• #1297

  When two persons put one hand of each flat together, palm to palm, they will quarrel.

  Province of Quebec, Can.
• #1298

  If two persons clasp hands so as to lock the fingers, bringing the palm of one person against the palm of the other person’s hand, it will break friendship.

  Newton, Mass.
• #1299

  If you hug your knee (hold your knee in clasped hands), you will hug up trouble.

  Salem and Medford, Mass.
• #1300

  When your joints crack, it is a sign that you have not outlived your best days.

  New York, N. Y.
• #1301

  If you kiss through a veil, there’ll be a coolness.

  Portland, Me.
• #1302

  Crossed knives are a sign of a quarrel.

  Cumberland, Mass.
• #1303

  Stir with a knife,
  Stir up strife.

• #1304

  Never look after a friend who is leaving you till he is quite out of sight, or you will never see him or her again; but turn your eyes away while he is still visible, that he or she may return.

  General in the United States.
• #1305

  Never say “good-by” more than once.

  Alabama.
• #1306

  One who habitually bites the nails is ill-natured.

  Ohio.
• #1307

  If you bite your finger-nails you will always be poor.

  Massachusetts.
• #1308

  If you sleep with your head towards the north, it will prevent sickness.

  General in the United States.
• #1309

  If you can cut a pie fair and true, you’ll have a likely husband. If you make the slices uneven, he’ll be crooked.

• #1310

  If you make a bed handsomely, you’ll have a handsome husband.

• #1311

  If you cut pie straight, you will go to housekeeping.
  If you cut pie crooked, you will have no house to keep.

  New Hampshire.
• #1312

  If you make a rhyme involuntarily, you will have a present.

  New Brunswick.
• #1313

  The free use of salt is a sign of having a temper.

  Lynn, Mass.
• #1314

  To say anything backward is a sign you will get a present.

  Peabody, Mass.
• #1315

  If you sing before you eat,
  You’ll cry before you sleep.

  Ohio and Iowa.
• #1316

  If you sing before breakfast, you will cry before supper.

  Cambridge, Mass.
• #1317

  If you laugh before breakfast, you will cry before supper.

  Prince Edward Island and Somerville, Mass.
• #1318

  Little birds that sing in the morning
  The old cat will catch before night.

  Accustomed to be said to children when they were especially hilarious in the early morning.

  Northern Ohio.
• #1319

  If a child sing before breakfast, it will get a whipping before night.

  New Hampshire.
• #1320

  To sing after you go to bed is a sign that tears will come before breakfast.

  Maine.
• #1321

  If the sole of either foot itches, you will walk on strange ground.

  Boston, Mass.
• #1322

  When about to begin a new enterprise, one must not step over straws in starting out.

• #1323

  If you stumble with the right foot, it means a glad surprise.

  Pennsylvania (negro).
• #1324

  In going anywhere, if you strike the right foot you will be welcome wherever you may be going, and if the same happens to the left foot, you will be on strange ground.

  Bellville, O.
• #1325

  To sit on a table is a sign of coming disappointment.

  Maine and Massachusetts.
• #1326

  In drinking tea, if you take a stem in the mouth it means an enemy; you must bite it and throw it over the right shoulder.

  Central Maine.
• #1327

  If you stub your toe going into a house, you are not wanted there.

  Guilford, Conn.
• #1328

  If, in going visiting, you stub the right toe, you are welcome; if the left, you are unwelcome.

  Massachusetts and Ohio.
• #1329

  If you stub your toe going anywhere, it means a disappointment.

  Bathurst, N. B.
• #1330

  Stub your toe,
  Lose your beau.

  Salem, Mass.
• #1331

  To bite the tongue while talking means that you have told a lie.

• #1332

  If you bite your tongue suddenly while eating, it is a sign some one is coming hungry.

  Cambridge, Mass.
• #1333

  In going along the street or path, where there is a tree, go inside rather than outside the tree, for you will be disappointed if you take the latter course.

  Eastern Massachusetts.
• #1334

  In drinking water, if you glance over the glass, you are a flirt.

  Pennsylvania.
• #1335

  Whistling girls and crowing hens
  Always come to some bad ends.

  General in the United States.
• #1336

  Whistling girls and sheep
  Are the very worst cattle a farmer can keep.

• #1337

  A whistling girl and a laughing sheep,
  Are the very best property a man can keep.

  Northern Ohio.
• #1338

  Girls that whistle and hens that crow
  Make their way wherever they go.

• #1339

  Whistle before you eat,
  Cry before you sleep.

  Baldwinsville, N. Y.